As we continue recapping the movies that arguably defined 2012, we move on to what I like to call 'The Runner-Ups'. These films are all very good if not great. Either they didn't quite make my 'favorite of the year' list or they aren't the kind of thing that belongs on a traditional best-of-year list (you'll see which ones I'm referring to below). Anyway, consider this a 'great films that aren't among the very best but I darn-well wanted to highlight them' list. As always, the films below are in alphabetical order. Without further ado...Argo (review):
In a year where old-school big-studio genre films for adults solidified their comeback, this Ben Affleck political period piece is the defining example of everything going right. It cost just $45 million, so it didn't need to be a massive hit to make a profit, but a massive hit it was. With around $105 million at the domestic till so far, it's among the year's top Oscar contenders, and I still have an inkling that Ben Affleck is going to walk away with the Best Director statue this year (the somewhat false 'comeback kid' narrative is too good to resist). Argo, concerning a true story of the CIA's attempts to rescue six Americans trapped in Iran during the embassy hostage crisis of 1979, is a pretty terrific film through-and-through. The only reason it doesn't rank higher is that it's really not about anything other than itself. It's a caper film, a procedural, but with no attempts at any additional relevancy. That's not a bad thing per-se, but it arguably prevents the film from being anything other than a terrific piece of old-school moviemaking. That's not exactly an insult, as it's still a top-notch piece of meat-and-potatoes entertainment.
